The present application generally relates to surgical tables, particularly thermal management in surgical tables with power electronics. More specifically, some embodiments described herein relate to surgical tables including or adapted to include one or more surgical robots. Such surgical tables include power electronics associated with the one or more surgical robots, which can produce a significant amount of heat. Some embodiments described herein relate to the management of heat produced by such power electronics.
In many circumstances, surgical tables must comply with a number of safety and performance standards. For example, in some environments the maximum allowable temperature of an external surgical table surface is 45° C. As another example, many surgical tables must be capable of being sprayed with water and, in some instances, must prevent water ingress into or collection in closed areas. Electronics contained within known surgical tables (e.g., height control, tilt control, etc.) are therefore generally disposed within sealed enclosures, such as the base.
Electronic components contained within known surgical tables are relatively low power and therefore produce a relatively modest amount of heat. For example, electronic components contained within known surgical tables might produce approximately 40 W of waste heat. Known surgical tables with such modest heat production do not present thermal management challenges.
Surgical robots generally have greater power consumption and more stringent requirements for clean and/or uninterrupted power than known surgical tables. Moreover, it can be advantageous to provide some or all electronics and/or power electronics associated with surgical robots within a surgical table. The greater power consumption of surgical robots, however, leads to a greater production of waste heat which presents thermal management challenges not present in known surgical tables. A need therefore exists for surgical tables with integrated electronics associated with surgical robots and thermal management technologies for safely dissipating waste heat.